Rangers 2 Blue Jays 14
There were moments when I thought that this wasn’t going to be our day.
In the first, Corey Seager hit a line drive at Davis Schneider in left and Davis flat out missed it (with his glove, hit him in the leg). A rare time that a ball that didn’t touch the glove was called an error. Eric Lauer walked the next man. But a fly out to center ended the inning. Schneider would make a terrific catch, with two outs in the fifth, to save a run.
But then we scored six in the second inning
and all was good.
In the second: Bo Bichette led off with a single. After an Alejandro Kirk fly-out, Daulton Varsho singled. Then Ernie Clement doubled both home. Next, Myles Straw surprised us all by hitting a home runs. 4-0 Jays. Andrés Giménez singled. An out later, Schneider singled. Vlad walked, and Bichette doubled (fly to right center that center fielder Wyatt Langford ran a long way to have it go off his glove). Two more scored. Vlad tried to score, made a nice slide, was called safe on the field, but overturned on a very quick challenge. I was ok with Vlad going home with two outs; it was a very close play.
We got two more in the third: Varsho took a one-out walk and Straw hit his second home run of the game. I’m sure those words have never been typed before. 8-1.
And three more in the fifth: Kirk reached with a one-out walk and Varsho homered (can’t let Straw have all the fun). Then, with two outs, Straw singled (9 total bases, in five innings. He had 5 total bases in the rest of August). Giménez walked. Springer had an infield single. And Davis Schneider had an RBI walk. After a pitching change, Vlad crushed a line drive up the middle (105.8 mph) but Ezequiel Duran made a great catch. 11-1
Rowdy Tellez came in to pitch the seventh and gave up a three-run homer to Schneider. He hit Springer in the leg with a pitch, which had the two of them laughing. George didn’t try to get out of the way.
Jays had 18 hits. Straw four. Schneider and Varsho three. Bo, Clement two. Vlad and Kirk had 0 fors.
Eric Lauer pitched five innings, plus a batter. He wasn’t great, but then he only allowed one run again, on four hits, three walks with four strikeouts. He gave up a couple of singles and a walk in the third. It looked like he was going to have a really short afternoon. But the he had a three up, three down fourth. In the fifth, he allowed a double but nothing else
Tommy Nance pitched two excellent innings, two hits, four strikeouts.
Seranthony Domínguez pitched the eighth and Tyler Heineman pitched the ninth, he allowed a run on one hit, and a hit batter, throwing what looked like a knuckleball to me. GameDay called it a slider.
Jays of the Day: Straw (.183, 4 for 5, 2 homers, 5 RBI), Clement (.109, 2 for 5), Lauer (.108) and Bichette (.089, 2 for 5)
No one gets the other award. Vlad had the low mark at -.041.
Tomorrow it is a 1:30 game. Jose Berrios (9-4, 3.74) goes for the sweep. Nathan Eovaldi (10-3, 1.71) starts for the Rangers.
